Journalists Weiss and Mohr provide a fast-paced, harrowing exposé of the Word of Faith Fellowship, an evangelical Christian ministry. Weiss and Mohr explore the appeal of the North Carolina church and its charismatic leader Jane Whaley by following the experiences of Rick and Suzanne Cooper, who joined the church with their six children in 1993. The Coopers grew increasingly devoted, even as Whaley exerted ever more control over the family, including forcing their children to live away from the family in Word of Faith housing and dictating when the couple could have more children. Whaley preaches a strict vision of spiritual warfare in which she singles out individuals at each service for "blasting": long session of being violently berated and sometimes hit by other congregants in order to force the demons out, particularly accusing members of not sufficiently suppressing sexual desires. Defectors, including Suzanne's sister, face orchestrated efforts to lure them back and discredit them. In 2014, after over two decades as congregants of Word of Faith, the Coopers left the church. The ballooning number of characters and some unresolved trajectories can make the narrative feel jumbled, but the stories of prolonged abuse and powerful control tactics are transfixing. This is catnip for readers who enjoy investigative reporting on shadowy organizations. (Feb.)

A fly-on-the-wall account of a religious cult and its discontents.Headquartered in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, the Word of Faith Fellowship has a long pedigreeand has long attracted the interest of law enforcement, write Associated Press reporters Weiss (The Heart of Hell: The Untold Story of Courage and Sacrifice in the Shadow of Iwo Jima, 2016, etc.) and Mohr. The founder, Jane Whaley, is "a godlike figure who professe[s] to have all the answers," a woman quick to disappear with the collection plateand who, the authors charge, was instrumental in the disappearance of an emerald so rare that the Brazilian government has been trying to retrieve it, the consequence of the church's expansion not just into that country but also in other entrepts around the world. The authors open with the daring escape, literally, of a church member and his wife, two refugees among 100 or so who have fled from the church and whose testimony provides the basis for this bookin addition to several law enforcement reports. Interestingly and ominously, some of those reports were never filed, and some were never even written thanks to the intercession of officials sympathetic to or supported by the WFF. Whaley, a charismatic leader surrounded by vulnerable followers and strong-arm lieutenants, has since sheltered herself in several ways, including forging political ties to the Trump administration and the Republican hierarchy in North Carolina. Meanwhile, amid such cultlike activities as dictating whom church members are allowed to marry, preaching a doctrine in which "sex is evil and demonic" and only the missionary position is acceptable, administering beatings to suspected apostates, and so forth, Whaley "has amassed millions." Ominously, the authors note at the end, one church higher-up has lately acquired a license to transport cyanide, the potential recipe for another Jonestown.A compelling examination of a Christianist cabal whose crimes are evident but whose power seems, for the moment, unbreakable. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The Word of Faith Fellowship, an independent evangelical church, has thousands of members spread across three continents. Despite their numbers, the inner workings of the church are secretive and hidden to outsiders. Jane Whaley founded the church which is based in Spindale, NC, in 1979, and church members view Whaley as a prophet. She exerts total control over members lives, deciding who gets rewarded or punished. This punishment can mean separation from family for weeks, or "blasting," which consists of church members yelling, screaming, pushing, slapping, and hitting people to drive out demons and evil spirits. Journalists Weiss (The Heart of Hell) and Mohr detail how a local sheriff and county prosecutors refused to investigate or file reports naming church members, and advised church leaders on the status of lawsuits. The authors rely on interviews with former members, court documents, and secretly recorded conversations to paint a truly terrifying picture of life inside this cult, and the price paid by former members to escape. VERDICT Those interested in cults and true crime will be enthralled by this account, which should be read in conjunction with Susan Ashline's Without a Prayer. --Chad E. Statler, Westlake Porter P.L., Westlake, OH

A charismatic leader, members who cut ties to their families, and extreme emotional and physical abuse all characterize Word of Faith Fellowship as represented by AP reporters Weiss and Mohr in this fascinating and deeply researched investigation. The former members they interviewed for this book lived in a community that, as the authors report it, can only be summarized as a cult. Word of Faith Fellowship, a close-knit church in North Carolina, and its leader Jane Whaley seem to dodge prosecution with relative ease despite numerous reports of abuse and fraud regarding Whaley and other church leaders. From the relatively benign banning of television to dictating when her followers will have sex and whom they will marry, Whaley reportedly rules over her church with impunity. Her blasting technique, which involves screaming at and occasionally physically abusing a person in order to expel demons, is a pillar of her theology, and used not only in her North Carolina church, but in affiliate congregations in Brazil. Compelling in its evidence, this shocking narrative examines the bonds of family, the limits of endurance, and how far people will go to save their souls.--Alice Burton Copyright 2020 Booklist